Kylian Mbappé (25) played his final game for Paris Saint-Germain last weekend in the Coupe de France final against Olympique Lyonnais. A fact that has not yet been properly processed by a club hierarchy who have not yet come to terms with the idea that the second most expensive signing of all time will leave on a free transfer.
After Mbappé refused to sign a contract extension with the club, he was frozen out of the squad and forced to train with the “undesirables.” It was a situation that saw him miss the first game of the season against FC Lorient until he proposed the idea of not collecting his bonus of €80 million, so PSG could feel like they weren’t losing him for free.
In October, this meant that the bonus was not paid to the Frenchman. However, as L’Équipe reports, when Mbappé announced to the club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi that he would be leaving for Real Madrid at the end of the season, the bonus was then suddenly paid.
An unexpected decision reportedly based on the mistaken belief that Real Madrid would foot the bill, not Mbappé. The Madrid president, Florentino Pérez, was not aware of this plan and had no intention of providing PSG a single euro for a player who was coming to the end of his contract, and for all intents and purposes would be free to sign.
Mbappé from the date of his internal announcement was sidelined at PSG, reduced to a peripheral role in league games, a decision that the French forward suspects was not for sporting reasons. And L’Équipe alleges that the eventual champions “forgot” to pay Mbappé his April salary and a bonus for February, a total that is thought to be around €80 million.
Negotiations between Mbappé and the club over his exit are reportedly only conducted through lawyers, with the club believed to be keen on putting their gentleman’s agreement to forgo his bonus in writing, while the player is suspected to want his missed wage and bonus to be paid.
GFFN | Nick Hartland